L'Amour et le Mariage
by MissFiyerabaMeponineSherlock
Summary: Companion story to Une Pauvre Fille, though you don't need to have read that to understand this. Focuses on Eponine and Marius' married life.
1. Chapter 1

**As I have absolutely no patience whatsoever when it comes to writing, I'm starting this now. Enjoy!**

**Dedicated to I Am Your Singer 2006. Without you, this story would not exist.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Les Misérables, nor do I own the characters.**

Eponine Thenardier took a deep breath. Today was the last day she would ever be known as a Thenardier. Soon, she would be Eponine Pontmercy, soon she would be married to Marius. A large smile spread across her face. She'd dreamed of this day for so long! Marius would truly be hers forever, just as she would be his. The thought brought pure joy. She had loved Marius for so long and now he finally loved her back, after all that time. It was, most definitely, a dream come true. Words could not describe the pure, unadulterated bliss that Eponine felt. She was marrying Marius, her best friend! What more could she possibly want in life? Well, she did wish that she had parents that actually cared about her, but at the moment, even they couldn't ruin her happiness. She doubted that anything could.

She looked in the mirror and smiled slightly. Even Eponine, who had never thought much of herself, had to admit that she looked rather pretty. Her long brown hair was in ringlets down to her waist (she knew that Marius prefered it when her hair was down as he had complimented it one day) and was not, by any means, messy. Her already long and dark eyelashes were darkened even more so by kohl and also seemed even longer. Her eyelids were painted gold as it brought out the gold flecks in her eyes, and her lips were painted a soft pink. There was a bit of blush upon her cheeks, which Eponine hadn't really seen the point of. It had been Nicolette, Gillenormand's maid, that had done both her make-up and her hair.

And then there was the dress. It was an absolutely beautiful dress. The thin sleeves hung low on her shoulders and the neckline was low and had a very slight 'v' shape to it. The white dress clung to her attractively, with a cinched waist, and the skirt of the dress flowed down, almost looking like a waterfall. The dress was perfect for Eponine. Though, there wasn't any reason that it shouldn't have been, it had been made specifically for her (Gillenormand had insisted). She truly did look beautiful, and Nicolette told her this repeatedly.

"Are you ready?" Gillenormand asked her as he walked into the room. Eponine smiled.

"I've been ready for this day for years." she replied. Gillenormand smiled and offered her an arm. Eponine took his arm and he led her outside to a carriage. Marius, Eponine had been told, was already at the cathedral. She hadn't been allowed to see him since he proposed to her and she had said yes. It was some tradition. Needless to say, neither Marius nor Eponine were particularly fond of this tradition. It had been a couple of weeks since Eponine had last seen him and she was rather excited to see him again, especially since they would be reunited at their wedding. Eponine still found it hard to believe that, at long last, she was with Marius. She was about to marry him! Her Marius really would be hers. They would be husband and wife! What joy!

Gillenormand helped Eponine into the carriage, Nicolette following and helping her with her dress. Both Nicolette and Gillenormand got into the same carriage as Eponine, who found herself unable to stop smiling.

The carriage ride to the cathedral was passed in a comfortable silence. As Eponine, aided by Nicolette and Gillenormand, got out of the carriage, she began to feel a bit nervous. What if something went wrong? What if Marius changed his mind?

"Everything will be alright." Gillenormand told her, guessing her thoughts. "Soon you'll be married to Marius and you two will be happy. Everything will be just fine." he assured her with a smile. Eponine only nodded and took his arm again. Gillenormand led her inside.

As soon as Eponine stepped inside, music started to play. Eponine looked down the aisle and saw Marius. All of her previous worries evaporated and another large smile spread across her face. Marius smiled back at her, in awe of how beautiful she was. _She's my angel..._ Marius thought, his smile only widening as Eponine came closer and closer until, finally, she was standing next to him. She released her grip on Gillenormand's arm and Marius took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it softly. She smiled brightly, a smile that could have lit up all of France, even at its darkest hour.

"You look... stunning..." Marius whispered to her, "Absolutely breath-taking." Eponine blushed. The priest in front of them cleared his throat before he started to speak, in a loud and clear voice,

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to join this couple in holy matrimony." Marius and Eponine were too lost in each other's eyes to hear the whole of the priest's speech, but Marius did hear when the priest began to talk to him, "Do you, Marius Antoine Pontmercy, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to love and to hold, through pain and through sickness, 'til death do you part?"

"I do." Marius said, smiling at Eponine. The priest turned to Eponine,

"Do you, Eponine Laurelène Thenardier, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to love and to hold, through pain and through sickness, 'til death do you part?"

"I do." she said, tears of pure joy in her chocolate brown eyes.

"If there are any objections as to why this couple should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace." The priest said and then paused for a moment. There were a few moments of silence, but then, just as the priest was about to pronounce them married, a voice rang out:

"I object!" There was a collective gasp upon hearing these words, spoken by a young woman. Without even having to see her, Eponine and Marius both knew exactly who had spoken. It was a voice that Marius and Eponine knew all too well and that they had heard far too much of.

It was the voice of Cosette.

**Hope y'all liked it! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter... which should be fairly entertaining :P**

**Also, I wrote about a quarter of this on my iPod, whilst on the way to the mall**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis or the characters**

_Cosette. _Eponine thought, _Of course._ She looked at Marius, who looked rather annoyed by the interruption. For a moment, their eyes met, but then both turned to see Cosette walking up the aisle, her golden blonde hair in loose curls and her crystal blue eyes fixed on Marius. She wore a bright pink dress with far too many ribbons and frills, as well as a bonnet on her head, which was also pink.

"Isn't that Coinette?" Gillenormand muttered.

"Cosette, what the hell are you doing here?" Eponine asked her, a cold hatred in her voice. Cosette ignored her and walked right up to Marius, who glared at her as she approached him.

"You loved me, Marius." she said in that annoyingly high pitch voice of hers.

"I _thought_ I loved you." he replied coldly.

"I think you still do."

"No, I really don't. As you can see, I'm about to marry the girl that I do love. The one you told me was dead." he glared at her harshly.

"You don't love the street rat, Marius." Cosette said, as if the mere idea was foolish. _Who could love her? _Cosette wondered, _She doesn't have a penny to her name._ Marius' eyes flashed dangerously.

"Call her that again, Cosette. I _dare_ you." he hissed venemously. Cosette flinched at the amount of pure hatred in his voice. Cosette was getting desperate. _He needs to realise that it's me he loves... not that piece of flith. Once he realises that he loves me, we can have our happily ever after... He just needs to realise that it's me that he loves. Not the street rat. But how can I make him see...?_ And then she kissed him. She grabbed his shoulders and, stepping forward, pressed her lips to his. There was another collective gasp. Marius immediately stepped back and Cosette was pulled back by Eponine.

"Oh hell no!" Eponine said before her fist collided with Cosette's face, hitting her in the eye. She stumbled back and then lunged at Eponine, in an attempt to pin her to the ground. Eponine easily shoved her aside and punched her again, this time hitting her in the jaw and causing one of her teeth to go through her lip. Her lip started to bleed. Cosette yelped and then swung at her, hitting her cheek. Marius was about to intefere, but didn't need to because it was then that he heard a sickening crack that came when Eponine punched Cosette in the nose. Cosette let out another cry of pain and blood started to gush from her nose.

"You... you bitch!" she exclaimed, glaring at Eponine.

"Call me that one more time, Cosette." Eponine replied, warning in her voice as she glared at the blond. Cosette turned and ran out, her eye starting to bruise, her nose gushing blood, and her lip starting to swell. Marius stared at his soon-to-be wife in awe and pure love.

"I love you." he said to her, causing her to smile.

"I love you too." she replied. Marius wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." the priest said just as Marius pressed his lips to Eponine's. The crowd cheered. Eponine smiled as she kissed him back. They were married. He was her husband... Eponine was immensely happy, as was Marius. He had just married his best friend. She was his wife... After a moment, Marius seemed to remember that there were people–strangers, actually, since all were friends of Monsieur Gillenormand–watching them and he pulled back. Both Marius and Eponine were smiling widely and both radiated happiness. They may not have had any friends who hadn't died, but they had eachother, and that was enough for them to get by. They would not forget their friends who had died at the barricade, of course not! But they, together, would be able to move on. They had eachother and that was all they needed.

Marius spun his wife around in the ballroom of Monsieur Gillenormand's house (they had returned there after the ceremony) as they danced their first dance as a married couple. Eponine couldn't help bu laugh out of pure joy. Marius twirled her. Then, pulling her close, he pressed his lips to hers, kissing her lovingly. Eponine kissed him back, smiling brightly.

"I love you." she murmured against his lips.

"I love you too, Eponine Pontmercy." he replied softly. She smiled again. He twirled her once more, causing another laugh. As the song drifted to an end and a new one began to play, Monsieur Gillenormand walked over to the happy couple.

"May I?" he asked, addressing Eponine. With a glance at Marius, who smiled at her, Eponine nodded.

"Of course." she said with a smile.

Monsieur Gillenormand, despite being rather old, turned out to be a fairly good dancer.

"You dance well, Monsieur." Eponine commented, smiling as he twirled her.

"As do you, Madame." Gillenormand replied. And then, after a moment, he added, "I think you should know, I always hoped that you would end up with Marius."

"Really?" she asked, quite surprised by this.

"Yes. I never liked that Corette. Never thought she was right for Marius. But you, my dear, belong with him. You two have been best friends for 10 years and I know you've loved him for almost the same amount of time as you've known him. You've always done anything you can for him and I know you make him happy. When he thought he had lost you, he was broken. I had never seen him so destroyed. And then, when he found out that you were alive, I think it's easy to say that he transformed into the happiest man in Paris. He loves you very much, Eponine. It took nearly losing you for him to see that, but now that he has, he will always love you. You two will live a very happy life together, I'm sure of it." Gillenormand told her. She smiled widely, tears of joy in her eyes once again.

"Thank you, Monsieur."

"Any time, my dear." he replied, "Now I'd better get you back to your husband, he'll be wanting you back now." Gillenormand brought her over to Marius, who greeted her with a passionate kiss. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck as his arms ensnared her waist. Monsieur Gillenormand left to talk with the wedding guests. Marius and Eponine stayed in eachother's embrace, their foreheads touching and their eyes engaged in a silent yet irrefutable conversation of love, for awhile. No one bothered them, the moment was just too sweet to interrupt. Anyone who looked upon them could see that they were so unquestionably, incontrovertibly, and inarguably in love. Then Basque, one of Gillenormand's servants, called out,

"The Baron and Baroness du Thénard wish to pay their respects to the groom." And in walked the Thenardiers.

**Dun, dun, dun! I really do love leaving y'all with cliff hangers. It amuses me so. Well, au revoir... I'm gonna go and eat a baguette... and some **_**fromage**_**... and stuff. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Voilà l'autre chapitre, enjoi!**

**Disclaimer: I think we all know that I don't own Les Mis or the characters, is it really necessary for me to say it? I guess I just did :P**

The Thenardiers immediately made their way over to Marius and Eponine. Both were dressed rather ridicuously in very bright, unattractive clothing. They were clearly supposed to be disguised, but Eponine and Marius weren't fooled. They saw through their disguise rather easily. Eponine stared at her parents with pure loathing in her eyes. They didn't seem to noticed. Thenardier smiled at Marius,

"Pardon me, Monsieur, but I seem to have forgotten where we met. The Chateau Lafarge, was it not? Where the Duke–" Thenardier started. Eponine cut him off.

"Save it." she said, glaring at him. "You are not _le Baron et le Baroness du Thénard._ You are my parents and you are not welcome here." Thenardier smacked her across the face and she stumbled back. Marius immediately stepped forward and punched him hard, his fist colliding with Thenardier's nose and breaking it.

"Don't ever do that again." Marius hissed, a threatening edge in his voice.

"500 francs and we'll never bother you again." Madame Thenardier said. Marius thought about this for a second and then looked at Eponine.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" he asked her.

"Probably not." she replied. Marius looked back at the Thenardiers,

"Get out." he told them. Thenardier took a step towards Eponine,

"You insolent little bi–"

"I would advise you not to finish that sentence." Marius said coldly. "Get out and don't even think about ever coming back."

"Then we're taking our daughter with us." And Thenardier made a grab for Eponine, but Marius stepped in front of her protectively.

"You will never lay a hand on my wife ever again, _Monsieur._ If you try again, you will regret it. Now go."

"Give us 500 francs and we'll leave, we'll move to America." Thenardier said. Marius sighed.

"Fine!" he said, and he gave them the money. The Thenardiers, pleased with this, left and would never bother them again. Marius turned to Eponine again, "Are you alright?" he asked her. Eponine smiled and then kissed him.

"I'm just fine." she murmured against his lips. Marius wrapped his arms around her. "Great, actually." He kissed her deeply and lovingly, holding her close to him. She smiled again. "I love you, Marius."

"I love you too, ma belle."

...

It was not much longer before the carriage arrived to bring them to Monsieur Gillenormand's beach house in Mantes-la-Jolie– where they were going for their honeymoon. The wedding guests waved goodbye to them as the carriage started to move. Marius and Eponine sat next to eachother in the carriage, holding hands with their fingers intertwined. Marius pulled her into his lap and kissed her softly. Eponine smiled and kissed him back.

"Monsieur and Madame Pontmercy..." Eponine said, as if trying out the words. She smiled, "I like it."

"As do I." said Marius as he absentmindedly played with her hair.

"How far is Mantes-la-Jolie?"

"Just under four hours away."

"So we'll get there around 8?"

"About that." Marius said with a nod. Eponine moved so that she was laying down on the seat, her head in Marius' lap. "Comfy?" he asked her. She nodded, grinning. Marius leaned down and kissed her softly. She kissed him back, running her fingers through his hair as she did so. "I love you so much."

"I love you more." she replied with a grin.

"I love you most."

"Prove it."

"I shall." And he kissed her again, this time softer and deeper; gently and fiercely; slowly and fervently. The kiss was filled with love and a fiery passion and when Marius pulled away, Eponine pulled him back, refusing to let him go. Marius laughed slightly and continued the kiss. This time, neither pulled back until they remembered that they needed to breathe. Breathlessly, they stared into eachother's eyes. Words were not needed to communicate the love between them. He kissed her forehead softly and murmured, "Angel..." Eponine took hold of one of his hands and brought it to her lips, kissing it.

...

The rest of way to Mantes-la-Jolie was spent in much the same way: kissing, light conversation, and amiable silence. When they arrived, Marius stepped out of the carriage and then held out a hand to Eponine, helping her out. But her feet had barely touched the ground when Marius picked her up bridal style and carried her into the beach house. Eponine didn't argue, but only kissed him again, with much passion and fervor. Her tongue entered his mouth and the kiss deepened. Marius carried her into the bedroom and, without breaking the kiss, set her down on the bed. Eponine pulled him on top of her.

The rest of the night was bliss.

Marius was still awake long after Eponine drifted off, curled up against his side with his arms around her and their bare skin touching. He smiled as, in her sleep, she draped an arm across his stomach. _My God, she's beautiful..._ he thought as he watched his wife sleep. _She's absolutely perfect..._ He thought back to what they'd just done, smiling as he remembered. It had felt right, like they were meant to be together. Their bodies fit together perfectly, like two corresponding pieces to a puzzle. He loved her, really and truly, just as she loved him. _And we will never be apart._ This thought made him unbelievably happy, for it was true. They were married, they were husband and wife. They would be together forever and for always. Everything was as it should be.

"I love you, Eponine Pontmercy." he murmured before falling asleep.

**Et le chapitre est fini! Please review!**

**I now have a blog for my account. In it, I will talk about future story ideas, current stories that I'm working on, and you'll probably get some sneak-peeks. If you wish to follow me on tumblr, my tumblr name thing is missfiyerabameponinesherlock . tumblr . com**

**Also, please check out the new poll on my profile page. It's regarding one of my future stories, Behold the Night That Falls, which centres around the attack on Rue Plumet.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everybody! A few things before I start this chapter:**

**First, I'm sorry that my updates aren't so frequent. I'm not actually home all that much.**

**Second, I'm gonna start a thing. Since all of Les Amis are dead, Eponine and Marius are, at some point, going to make new friends, enemies, and, eventually, so will their children. So, I thought I'd make things fun here. If you want to, you can submit an OC (I'll post a form at the end of the chapter) in a review (and, please, by review only. Please don't send them to my through PMs, I've tried that in the past and it's really hard to find them after a while. Sending them via reviews make everything much easier, I cannot stress this enough.) and they may end up as a character, and you'll receive an honourable mention.**

**Third, there is no third.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Les Misérables or the characters.**

Eponine woke before Marius that morning. She smiled as she looked at her sleeping husband, who still had his arms wrapped around her. They were married... it was almost hard for her to believe. She had dreamed of this for so long and, now, it was no longer just a dream. They were really married... It gave her a wonderful feeling. She watched him sleep for a moment. She was almost amazed, stunned even. Not so long ago, Marius had loved Cosette, he had never even thought of Eponine in that way. And now they were married. Okay, so maybe it wasn't as simple as that. She had nearly died and she had been left to rot in a prison cell for a while. Marius almost ended up with Cosette, almost didn't find out that Cosette had lied, that Eponine hadn't died. If it hadn't been for Monsieur Gillenormand, she would have died, Marius would have ended up with Cosette, and she would not be in Marius' arms, watching him as he slept. Eponine was eternally grateful.

She rested her head against Marius' chest and closed her eyes, soon falling into a light, comfortable sleep. She woke an hour later, around the same time as Marius.

"Good morning, beautiful." Marius softly murmured, resting his chin on her bare shoulder. Eponine smiled and turned her head to kiss him on the cheek.

"Good morning, mon amour." she replied. Marius held her a bit closer, causing her to smile again.

"My God, you're beautiful." he said to her before kissing her softly and lovingly.

"I love you."

"I love you too, ma chère 'Ponine." He trailed kisses down the side of her face, then down her neck to her shoulder. She smiled and then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him even closer.

It was almost noon when Marius and Eponine finally got out of bed. After they got dressed (Gillenormand had made sure that the closets were filled with clothing), he took her hand and led her to the kitchen. There was a cook there who had already prepared some brunch for them.

"You two go and sit down, I'll bring the food out to you." said the cook, a plump woman in her early fifties with neat grey hair and dark brown eyes. Marius and Eponine did as told and walked into the dining room and took a seat, side by side and still holding hands. He kissed her cheek softly, causing her to smile. She rested her head against his shoulder just as the cook started bringing out their brunch: eggs and bacon, as well as some fresh fruits. "Tuck in." she said with a smile before heading back to the kitchen. Eponine had to force herself to eat slowly. Even though she had stayed with Marius for weeks prior to the wedding, she still wasn't used to having three meals a day. Her brain still told her to eat while she could, that she might not get a chance to eat for a while. Marius watched her for a moment, guessing what she was thinking, knowing how she had lived in the past. The thought still saddened him, but he knew–and so did she–that Eponine would never have to return to that life. The past was the past. Marius would never let his wife go hungry. Eponine could see, out of the corner of her eyes, that he was watching her, and she turned her head to smile at him. Marius smiled back, before starting to eat.

After they ate, Marius led Eponine out to the beach. They were the only people there, despite it being a nice, sunny day. Marius suspected that his grandfather had something to do with it. Eponine looked around in amazement. She'd never been to the beach before, especially not one as nice as this one was. The sand was soft and almost fluffy, the water was a clear, clean blue, with a lot of waves, and the view was simply amazing, breathtaking even. Marius smiled at the look of wonder upon Eponine's face. He took her hand and they walked on the sandy beach.

"The view is beautiful." Eponine said, breaking the comfortable silence. Marius smiled,

"It truly is." but he was not looking at the horizon, he was looking at her. Eponine noticed this and smiled. He turned and brought his hands up to gently cup her face. He kissed her softly, tenderly, and lovingly. She kissed him back fervently, wrapping her arms around his neck. They shared a smile before pulling back slightly, their foreheads still touching. "I love you, ma chère 'Ponine."

"I love you too, mon chou-chou." she replied. Then she grinned and, kicking off her shoes, she said to him, "Race you to the water!" she turned and ran towards the water. Marius kicked off his shoes and chased after her. He reached the water just after she did and he grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, causing her to laugh. They were only about ankle-deep in the water. Eponine lifted her skirts slightly and walked a bit deeper, Marius followed, not even bothering to roll his pants up. Once they were about knee-deep, a playful grin appeared on Eponine's face.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Marius said. Eponine merely grinned even wider in response. Then she splashed him. Marius laughed and splashed her back. Thus, a splash war ensued, with both of them getting even deeper and even wetter as it continued. Eventually, they were both about shoulder-deep and pretty far out. Well, Marius was shoulder-deep and Eponine was standing on the tips of her toes. "Perhaps we ought to head back." Marius said. Eponine nodded. The two started back slowly (Eponine didn't know how to swim, she'd never had any reason to learn), but then a large wave crashed over them. Marius was able to swim back up after the wave pulled them both under, but he noticed very quickly that Eponine had not resurfaced. He quickly dove under the water and looked around for her, his vision blurred by the water. He caught sight of her struggling to swim back up and quickly swam over to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her up. Eponine coughed, a bit of water coming up. "Are you okay?" Marius asked her worriedly. She nodded. Relief spread across Marius' face. They started, once again, heading back to shore, but this time, Marius kept hold of Eponine, not taking any risks.

By the time they had gotten back to the beach house and changed into dry clothing, the cook was nearly finished making dinner.

Marius looked at Eponine once they both had changed, a slight smile on his face. She returned the smile and walked over to him, wrapping her thin arms around his waist. Marius hugged her back tightly.

"Marius?" she murmured.

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Marius?"

"Yes, love?"

"I won the splash war."

"Of course you did." he said with a smile before kissing her softly and sweetly.

**I hope you liked it! This fanfic is probably the fluffiest thing I've ever written ever. **

**OC FORM**

**First Name:**

**Middle Name:**

**Last Name:**

**Gender:**

**Eye Colour:**

**Hair Colour:**

**Age (this one is subject to change):**

**Physical Traits:**

**Personality:**

**Appearance:**

**Short Biography:**


	5. Chapter 5

**Voilà, le prochain chapitre.**

**Thank you to the people who sent in characters, they will appear at some point and I'll give you credit. You can continue sending them in if you want, I'm going to need quite a few.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Les Misérables, nor do I own the characters.**

That night, Marius sat on a chaise-longue near the fire, with Eponine curled up on top of him. He gently rubbed her back as she drifted in and out of sleep. She looked so peaceful and happy, which she always seemed to look now-a-days. Marius was happy for that. She used to look so sad, so lonely. But now, gone were the days of sorrow and despair. They were sure to, more or less, live happily ever after. Sure, their lives wouldn't be entirely worry free, but as long as they had eachother, all would be well. Her hair was still slightly damp from their trip to the beach. It looked so dark that it was nearly black in colour. Her long, dark eyes lashes quivered against her cheek as she slowly breathed in and out.

Marius kissed his wife's forehead lightly, smiling when he saw a small smile appear on her lips. _Ah, so she's awake again._

"I love you, Marius." she murmured, stifling a yawn. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I love you too, mon amour." he replied. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. He could still feel a lot of her bones. She was still very skinny, though not quite as much as she had been. Marius knew it would take a while for her to attain a healthy weight, but at least now it was possible, now she would get enough to eat every day. "It's hard to believe we're married." he said, "Don't get me wrong, I love being married to you and I love you with all my heart and soul, it's just... wow, we're married..." he had a huge smile on his face that Eponine would describe as adorably handsome.

"I know what you mean," Eponine said, "and we'll get used to it."

"I look forward to it."

"Me too." she kissed him softly. Marius smiled and continued to hold her. She kept her head resting against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. She started to worry when she heard it slow, but then she looked up and saw that he had fallen asleep and her worry vanished. She smiled slightly and watched him sleep. He was so handsome, with his curly, light brown hair and his freckles. His eyes, she knew, when opened, were the colour of emeralds and were normally filled with such love for her. Everytime she looked at him, she fell in love with him all over again, her love growing deeper and deeper each time. Ah, what a thing it is to love! To look at another and feel such a bond, such a connection with them. It is even greater to be loved in return! To know that that one person will always be there for you, will always love you, always cherish you. It is a miraculous thing! Those who love are the closest to God on earth.

"I'm Madame Pontmercy." she murmured to herself, smiling a bit. "Eponine Pontmercy..." she smiled wider. She liked the sound of it, really and truly. "Eponine and Marius Pontmercy. Madame and Monsieur. The Pontmercys..." It sounded right, like it was meant to be. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Marius. Marius subconsciously held her closer. She kissed his chest lightly before drifting off into an easy sleep.

They ended up sleeping there the entire night, in the chaise-longue by the fire. It was Marius who woke first. He was careful not to move too much so as not to wake Eponine. He smiled as he watched her sleep. God, she was beautiful! Her hair had dried and was back to its normal dark brown colour, with the slightest tint of redness to it. It was curlier than normal, as it tended to be when it had gotten wet. Her olive-toned skin seemed almost to shine. She radiated happiness. She was in the arms of the man she loved, why wouldn't she be happy? Marius kissed her temple lightly and continued to hold her, waiting for the moment she would wake. But then, in a split second, her content expression transformed into one of terror and Marius recognised, immediately, the signs of a nightmare. Eponine had turned white and she had started to shake. Marius gently nudged her.

"'Ponine, wake up." he whispered in her ear. She continued to twitch. He shook her lightly, "It's only a dream, 'Ponine. I'm here." She awoke with a gasp, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her breaths were uneven and shaky. "It's okay, love, it was only a dream." Eponine buried her face in his chest. "Shh, it's okay, I'm here, it's okay." he gently stroked her hair and held her close to him. "It was only a dream, 'Ponine. You're safe, I'm here." She was hyperventilating, "Breathe, 'Ponine. In through your nose for four, hold for two, out through your mouth for six. Come, in-two-three-four, hold-two, out-two-three-four-five-six." Eponine listened to him and soon found herself calming down, her breathing returning to normal. Her forehead was beated with an icy sweat and she was still rather pale, but she was, more or less, calm. Marius kissed her forehead softly. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

"Better now, thanks." Eponine replied, her voice shaky. Both were silent for a moment.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Marius asked, after a moment.

"It was nothing, really..." she said quietly.

"Eponine, we both know that's not true."

"No, not really." she conceded. She was quiet for a moment. Marius waited patiently for her to speak. "I... I dreamed that I was back in that cell... only, this time, no one came for me. You and Cosette got married while I watched from the window of my cell. I was left all alone there... alone... no one else... just alone... with the darkness..." she was shaking again. Marius kissed the top of her head.

"You'll never be alone again, 'Ponine." he promised her. "I'm here and I love you and we're married. Cosette will never bother us again, neither will your parents. I won't leave you until you send me away. I'm yours, 'Ponine. I promise you."

"Truly?" she asked, sounding much like a child that needed reassurance that there were no monsters hiding under her bed.

"Truly." he replied.

Once Marius and Eponine had eaten breakfast, they decided to take a walk and see what Mantes-la-Jolie was like. It was a nice town, though it was rather crowded and very busy. Marius held Eponine's hand so they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. But then someone bumped into Eponine rather hard and sent her stumbling into the path of an oncoming carriage.

"Eponine!" Marius exclaimed, shoving past people to try to get to her. Eponine was paralysed with fear. The carriage was coming straight for her with no intentions of stopping. Eponine found the ability to move again just in time and jumped out of the way, landing on the ground. Marius ran over to her. "'Ponine! Are you okay?" Marius asked her as he helped her up.

"I'm fine." she replied, though a little shakily, as she stood with his help.

"Are you sure?" he was now searching for any cut or bruises that she may have obtained.

"Really, I'm fine." she assured him. Marius hugged her tightly. Eponine could feel him shaking. "Marius, I'm okay, really." she said, wrapping her arms around him and gently stroking his hair. "I'm fine, love, I'm fine." He held her closer.

"I... I know. It's just... I lost you once, I can't lose you again." Eponine pulled back to look at him and she could see the fear in his brilliant green eyes. She kissed his cheek and then hugged him again.

"You won't." she said quietly, "I won't leave you, you won't lose me."

"Truly?" he asked her.

"Truly."

**I hope y'all liked it! I'm not the best at fluff, but I tried. Please review!**


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